Emotional Cowboys rally to win game dedicated to Brown

Dec. 9, 2012
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The Cowboys beat the Bengals just a day after Jerry Brown, a linebacker on the team's practice squad, was killed in an auto accident. Teammate Josh Brent, who was driving, was charged with intoxication manslaughter. / Joe Robbins, Getty Images

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

CINCINNATI - It was the type of raucous sideline celebration that you normally see after a game-winning field goal or a when a team punches a ticket to the next round of the playoffs.

This usually doesn't happen with a third-down conversion.

But it was not a typical day at the office for the grief-stricken Dallas Cowboys, playing a day after learning that practice squad linebacker Jerry Brown, 25, died in a single-car, alcohol-related accident that also resulted in intoxication manslaughter charges against a teammate who was supposed to start on Sunday, defensive tackle Josh Brent.

They took a lot of baggage into this game. Some players visited with grief counselors at the team hotel on Saturday night. Before they took the field at Paul Brown Stadium, players openly sobbed in the locker room.

Late in the fourth quarter, with victory in sight at crunch time, it was time. Time to let all the emotion flow.

DeMarco Murray, the rugged running back, made sure that they could have this moment with his violent 6-yard blast off right tackle on third-and-4 that set up the 40-yard field goal by Dan Bailey that clinched the 20-19 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals.

No, they didn't wait for Bailey's kick as time expired to let loose with their screaming, hugging and joyful jumping. They needed to exhale. So they did.

With Murray's first down, they just knew they had won the game.

"I think everything that happened spilled into that moment," said defensive end Marcus Spears.

Spears, an eighth-year veteran, can't recall that the sideline ever erupted with such emotion. Maybe not even after winning the NFC East crown.

"And no, not for a third down," he added. "Especially when you kick a game-winner and the reaction is a little less."

Then again, the Cowboys never had to play a game like this, shaken by the tragedy that instantly redefined their state of purpose.

"It's the hardest thing I've ever been through," Spears said. "I lost my grandfather, and we were close. But for a 25-year old to lose his life ... I mean, we were just in the locker room with those guys a week ago, laughing and joking. Too soon."

The Cowboys (7-6) needed a victory to keep their hopes for a late-season rally for a playoff berth intact. Yet you didn't hear much about chasing the New York Giants or keeping watch on the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

Instead, players were spilling their guts about their faith, about dying young, about never knowing when their last day will be. About teammates and family.

"It's a big for us. It shows the unity that we have," said cornerback Brandon Carr. "But it's not about football. We were able to take a step in the right direction in our healing."

Carr, who signed in March as a free agent and had a crucial momentum-swinging interception, was touched by the tragedies that struck on back-to-back weeks in the NFL more than any Cowboys player.

He came over from the Kansas City Chiefs. He learned of the fatal accident involving his Cowboys teammates on Saturday afternoon, while leaving the burial service in Austin for Kasandra Perkins, who was slain a week earlier by Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher.

Throughout the funeral, Carr's cellphone buzzed with incoming messages, including several from Cowboys safety Barry Church. When he returned Church's call and was told of the latest tragedy, he hung up and called Church right back.

He asked Church to repeat what he had just told him.

Carr couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Why?" said Carr, who joined the team on Saturday night after flying with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on his private jet. "You can't ask why. I don't try to question God in his ways."

Football requires that teams endure all types of adversities. But this was a different type of gut-check for the Cowboys.

And suddenly, coach Jason Garrett, often analyzed for football strategy, became an essential lead counselor. Garrett broke the news of Brown's death and details of the accident on the team plane before the Saturday afternoon departure from Dallas. He addressed it later in a team meeting, in the locker room before hand.

And he will continue to try to help his players deal with the loss of a teammate that he says must never be forgotten.

"This is hard for everybody to handle," Garrett said. "All we asked our team to do what to understand what happened and try to channel their emotions and use them to honor Jerry. Everyone in our organization has been numb."

After the game, Garrett called Brown's mother, Stacey Jackson, and reiterated how the team dedicated the game to her son. He also told her that Brown was awarded a game ball.

It was the only game ball that Garrett really needed to give out. "We won, but it doesn't feel like it," said Murray. "It's hard."